In the traditional distilled spirits industry, the process of fermenting a mash so as to produce a water/alcohol mixture, and then further distilling that water/alcohol mixture so as to produce the alcoholic beverage or product, is a process which consumes a high amount of energy. Because fermentation is an exothermic process, electrical or other energy must be applied to cool the fermentation vat and keep it at an ideal temperature. Furthermore, the distillation of the water/alcohol mixture, which typically takes place in an apparatus that is separate from the fermentation vat, requires the application of heat to the mixture, so as to boil the alcohol and thereby separate it from the water. These energy requirements increase the cost and environmental impact of the traditional brewing process.
Systems are known for fermentation and distillation that involve heat exchange systems for transferring excess heat from one part of the process to another part of the process. The following patents show some examples of prior art systems for fermenting and distilling:                US Publication No. 2007/0117195 discloses a method for treating organic wastes to produce fuel that can be used as an energy source. Organic wastes are separated into high and low moisture content streams. The high moisture content undergoes a biocatalytic fermentation process and produces both ethanol and water. The low moisture content stream undergoes a gasification process. A heat exchanger is provided to capture waste heat from the gasifier and convey it to the biocatalytic process, for example by heating water from a water source. The heat exchanger may also be used to provide heat to a distillation column for separating water from ethanol produced in the fermentation process.        U.S. Pat. No. 8,815,552 discloses a biorefinery and a system for producing ethanol in a fermentation system from biomass that has been pre-treated and separated into a first component and a second component. Product of fermentation is distilled to recover ethanol, but does not include a heat exchange system for collecting heat from fermentation unit and transferring that heat to the distillation unit.        US Publication No. 2012/0151827 and related US Publication No. 2013/0152457 describe a digestion unit and method for processing cellulosic biomass using integrated heat management for process control. More efficient heat integration is realized by coupling a digestion unit and catalytic reduction reactor unit together in a fluid circulation loop. Catalytic reduction reactions such as hydrogenation and/or hydrogenolysis are exothermic processes that may supply their excess generated heat to the endothermic digestion process when these processes are coupled together in a fluid circulation loop, thereby reducing the need for external heat input to drive the digestion process, and providing an efficient use of the excess heat generated by the catalytic reduction reaction, which would otherwise need to be dissipated.        US Publication No. 2009/0017512 discloses compositions, methods, and apparatus for the production of electricity, ethanol and hydrogen from biomass. Electricity is generated by supplying a microbial catalyst and a fuel source to a microbial fuel cell or a bio-electrochemically assisted microbial reactor.        
However, none of the references disclose an apparatus which combines a fermentation tank and a distillation chamber into one unit for the purposes of heat transfer and energy production.